Brussels, 30/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - According to the European Commission, the European indicator which measures the feeling of confidence among business and consumers in the EU's economy has fallen 0.5 of a point to reach a level of 102.8 in June. During the first half of 2004, this confidence index has made slow progress, despite strong improvement in 2003. June's fall mainly referred to retail services and trade, and was not balanced out by a slight increase in consumption and construction. For the euro zone, an improvement in confidence in the industrial sector meant that the indicator's drop was limited to -0.3 points.
Whereas the Council of governors of the European Central Bank is to make its decision on Thursday on interest rates, Eurostat's estimates, published on Wednesday, predict an inflation rate of 2.4% for June 2004 (against 2.5% in May).